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Liberal senator David Van is speaking to Sydney radio 2GB about independent senator Lidia Thorpe’s allegations in the Senate yesterday.
Thorpe withdrew the remarks to comply with the Senate’s standing orders but said she would be making a statement on the issue today.
Continue reading...Tony Burke says Labor committed to strong consumer protections regarding online gambling and does not oppose principle behind independent’s bill
‘A sackable offence’
Here is how that “conversation” played out.
What we want understand now is whether this Labor minister was in fact complicit in politicising this event. That is unforgivable.
Not only that, misleading parliament is a serious offence, a sackable offence and standing by this minister, if she has misled parliament, has consequences.
You were in the Senate yesterday when Katy went through what happened and what I’d like to understand from you is how is it the two years after this event you are trying to make this somehow the problem of the current government when we were not even in government, not four years after this event occurred.
The real issue is the fact that a woman was allegedly sexually assaulted in our workplace and I would really like to focus on that is the main issue here because that is the main issue here, because that is the subject that matters.
What we are finding out now is what the minister knew and why her testimony to the Senate as different from that. There’s a lot of considerations here, I know people are talking about how this information came into the media and certainly the media has a lot of considerations to make.
There has to be respect for the parliament and the court and the law but that information is now out there and journalists need to make decisions about whether it is in the public interest.
Continue reading...Andrew Bragg and Bridget Archer make call after Network Ten asks AFP to investigate alleged leaking of evidence in Bruce Lehrmann trial
Liberals Andrew Bragg and Bridget Archer have broken ranks to call for an inquiry into how Brittany Higgins’ text messages were leaked, with Bragg labelling debate in the Senate where the Coalition is pursuing Katy Gallagher “very ugly”.
The pair made the call after the finance minister denied misleading the Senate about her knowledge of Higgins’ allegation before it aired and Network Ten asked the Australian federal police to investigate how Higgins’ texts became public.
Continue reading...Finance minister tells Senate she has ‘always acted ethically and with basic human decency on all matters to do with Ms Higgins’
Katy Gallagher has denied misleading parliament over her knowledge of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation, hitting back at the Coalition over their “giddy” reaction to leaked text messages.
The minister for finance and women made a personal explanation to the Senate on Tuesday, after Peter Dutton claimed Labor had used the complaint for “political purposes” and “conspired” to maximise the damage to the Morrison government.
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Continue reading...Housing minister says work for social and affordable homes can begin as soon as future fund is established but Greens say it should begin now
Labor has guaranteed a minimum of $500m will be paid out of the Housing Australia Future Fund every year in a last-ditch bid to win Greens support for the bill to help build social and affordable housing.
The housing minister, Julie Collins, wrote to the crossbench on Monday offering a “guaranteed fixed disbursement” of $500m from 2024-25, with a new power for the treasurer and finance minister to increase the amount by regulation, making it a floor not a ceiling.
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Continue reading...Guardian Essential poll finds high level of backing for voice to parliament, despite other polls showing support flagging
Public support for the Indigenous voice to parliament is holding steady and remains high, the latest Guardian Essential poll shows, in contrast with other recent polls suggesting that support is sliding.
The poll of 1,123 voters, published on Tuesday, found 60% of respondents were in favour of the voice, up one point on the previous survey, while 40% were opposed to it.
Continue reading...The opposition is out for vengeance over what it sees as ‘collusion’ and ‘weaponisation’ but Labor will no doubt push back
What an edifying spectacle parliament is going to be this week.
The Coalition’s two-year old wound caused by accusations it mishandled Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation has been reopened, and they’re out for vengeance.
Continue reading...Anika Wells says taskforce will include consideration of levies but government ‘still not advocating any particular proposal’
The aged care minister, Anika Wells, says Australians want more “choice” on aged care and would be prepared to pay for it, as the government mulls the introduction of a user-pays system.
Wells told ABC’s Insiders the Albanese government’s position on aged care was consistent, playing down calls for a levy before the election because it was “still not advocating any particular proposal”, merely establishing a taskforce which will consider how to make aged care sustainable.
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Continue reading...Finance minister says she was in contact with David Sharaz but did not know the full allegations or decide ‘to weaponise’ them
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, has insisted she did not mislead parliament over her knowledge of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation.
On Saturday she said that while she had been in contact with Higgins’ partner, David Sharaz, and was aware of some details of the story before it broke, she had not known the full allegations nor had she “made a decision to weaponise it”.
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Continue reading...Coalition presses finance minister over her comment to Senate estimates that ‘no one had any knowledge’ before rape allegation was made public
Anthony Albanese has denied that the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, misled the Senate by insisting “no one had any knowledge” before Brittany Higgins made her rape allegation in February 2021.
The opposition is continuing to press Gallagher for an explanation of her evidence to Senate estimates, which has come under question due to the release of text messages between Higgins and her partner, David Sharaz, suggesting contact with Gallagher four days before the story broke.
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Continue reading...Guild says it adheres to all relevant privacy laws as medical association says patient’s personal information is ‘sacrosanct, not a plaything’
The health department has expressed concern the Pharmacy Guild appears to be using patient contact details from its “Find a Pharmacy” website to campaign against 60-day medicine dispensing.
Meanwhile, the Australian Medical Association has labelled the Pharmacy Guild’s opposition to the new rules a “sick joke”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Former PM directly warned cabinet ministers over China, the Pacific and US hegemony prior to his pointed speech at the National Press Club
At 10.45am on Wednesday 15 March, an explosive email landed in the inboxes of all of Anthony Albanese’s cabinet ministers.
“Dear cabinet colleagues,” wrote Paul Keating, Labor luminary turned chief Aukus critic.
Continue reading...Treasurer points finger at inflation, adding ‘people are under pressure and the global economic conditions are not helping either’. Follow live
Parts of Victoria and South Australia are being warned to expect heavy rainfall today.
The heavy rain that’s already hit Western Australia is sweeping across the country, with South Australia’s Riverland and Murraylands warned to brace for heavy rainfall to last until Friday.
We want to see productivity get going. We have had the worst decade, I think, in productivity growth in the last 60 years in the previous decade so there’s a lot of work to do. We can’t turn that around in one year.
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Burke says the loophole only applies to where the business has agreed on a minimum rate of pay:
The loopholes are really simple … which is, if an employer agrees with their workforce and registers, this should be the rate of pay.
You shouldn’t then be able to go to a labour hire company and completely undercut what you’ve just agreed to.
Yesterday was one of the one of the strangest debates I’ve ever found myself in – because business was running a passionate campaign against a policy that the government is not proposing, that the government’s not going to do. And to me, it would sound like a bad idea anyway.
Effectively the way business were arguing yesterday – there was someone on PM yesterday afternoon, claiming that somehow this would prevent hairdressers from being able to pay different rates of pay for the people in their employment. Just not true.
Continue reading...Nationals pair say they were at a level crossing on a public road when they visited the rail corridor without ministerial permission
Nationals MP Mark Coulton and senator Bridget McKenzie have angrily rejected suggestions they may have trespassed by visiting the inland rail project near Narromine after permission to do so was denied.
Coulton told Guardian Australia that the issue, pursued by Labor in Senate estimates, was “absolute complete bullshit”, backing McKenzie’s account the pair were at a level crossing on a public road when they visited the rail without the minister’s permission.
Continue reading...Eight teenagers in police custody after allegedly dragging woman from car on the Gold Coast. Follow the day’s news live
Business groups argue ‘same job, same pay’ laws would disadvantage workers
I mentioned a little earlier that business groups have glommed together to launch a campaign against the federal government’s proposed “same job, same pay” industrial relations laws.
The so-called ‘Same Job, Same Pay’ proposals does not mean equal pay for men and women. It does not speak of fairness and justice, as its name falsely represents.
It means by law, employers will have to pay workers with little knowledge or experience exactly the same as workers with decades of knowledge and experience.
Without a real threat of losing passengers to other airlines, the Qantas and Virgin Australia airline groups have had less incentive to offer attractive airfares, develop more direct routes, operate more reliable services, and invest in systems to provide high levels of customer service.
Continue reading...Anthony Albanese will meet with Vietnamese prime minister Pham Minh Chinh, as well as the Communist Party general secretary, the president and the chairman of the national assembly. Follow the day’s news, live
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will meet Vietnam’s top leaders in Hanoi today as part of an official state visit.
He’ll begin his day visiting the Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam’s communist revolutionary leader and first president, before meeting with Vietnamese prime minister Pham Minh Chinh, as well as the Communist Party general secretary, the president and the chairman of the national assembly.
Continue reading...Party says they are willing to negotiate to pass housing bill through Senate ‘but Labor has to shift’ on rent freezes and direct action
The Greens have scaled back their demands on housing, offering to pass Labor’s future fund bill in return for $2.5bn a year of direct spending and action on soaring rents.
The Greens and Albanese government are still locked in negotiations over the $10bn housing Australia future fund, with the latest offer from the minor party designed to allow the Senate to pass the bill in the June sitting.
Continue reading...Premier suffered lowest approval rating on record in recent poll but message at Queensland Labor state conference was about unity
The first day of the Queensland Labor state conference was as rehearsed as the government probably hoped, with little infighting or division on display.
In the sugar town of Mackay, where Labor has held the state seat for more than a century, MPs were keen to portray the government as a united front ahead of next October’s election and to keep the focus on three key pressure points: cost of living, health and youth crime.
Continue reading...Draft changes to party’s platform replace commitment to strengthen laws with ‘almost meaningless’ clause to ‘develop policy’, advocates say
Labor has been criticised for proposing to ditch a commitment to strengthening legal protections for the LGBTQ+ community, with queer advocates saying the party appeared to have “backtracked”.
A consultation draft of changes to Labor’s national platform, released this week, proposes to remove a commitment from the 2021 platform to “strengthen laws and expand initiatives against discrimination, vilification and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics”.
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